Wonderful Whites

Agastache foeniculum 'Snowspire'

Hydrangea serrata 'Fuji Waterfall'

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Hibiscus 'Diana'

White garden (Click on photo to see a larger image)

When I think of a white garden, I immediately picture the White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, England. There would be small enclosed intimate gardens overflowing with an abundance of plant material in bright white. The silvers of lamb’s ear and Artemisia would cool the brilliant white palette. I don’t have a landscape architect to design and construct elaborate garden rooms. Nor do I have a gardener to trim ornate hedges or change out flowers as their bloom fades. But, I did have a huge, bulbous yew tree that I really hated and I was inspired by just such a yew that I had seen “limbed up” at Wave Hill in NY. After removing most of my yew’s lower branches, I how had a focal point. Then I made a sunken stone pathway and built a circular stone wall with a small step leading up to the now stunning yew. Viola! I created structure! This garden houses a collection of “white” daylilies, but as we all know whites daylilies might better be described as “vanilla”. To me gold and yellow hues blend more harmoniously with white daylilies than the silvers and grays of many famous white gardens. So, my garden is planted with golden grasses, creamy variegated and chartreuse hosta, white carpet roses and a host of white flowered bulbs, perennials, shrubs and trees. It’s situated in part sun, so the daylilies fill the areas where the sun glimmers through the overhead canopy. Rather than thinking of a white garden as a beacon in the night, try to imagine it as a soothing oasis of shifting shadows in the day.

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Camassia leichtlinii 'Semiplena'

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Persicaria polymorpha

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Phlox 'Delta Snow'

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Corydalis ochroleuca

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Daylily 'Winter Chill'

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Lilium 'Expression'

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Rosa 'Flower Carpet White'

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Allium cowanii

In my garden, care stops at the gate and gazes at me wistfully through the bars. Alexander Smith